SI: "Raptors' future relies on Bargnani"

"The kid is taking strides in the right direction," Raptors president Bryan Colangelo said. "But he needs to get to the point where he's 20 [points] and 10 [rebounds]. That's the complete product. Now, is it going to be 23 and 8, 24 and 7, whatever? He's far from complete, but he's proven he belongs here."

"His greatest strength is his ability to get guys off balance, because they have to honor his shot so they're going to come out at him," Colangelo said. "I've told him, Just study Dirk Nowitzki. You don't want to be compared to him, that's fine. But study just how slowly he goes about things. He's very calm, he's always under control. He gets guys up then he puts the ball down. His first year, [Bargnani] was faking and not accomplishing anything with his fakes. He's got to be more patient. Take guys up, put the ball down, and then maybe pass."

"He's got great confidence in himself, that's not the issue," Colangelo said. "He's got to become more of a complete player."

Should Bosh stay, it will be a strong signal of his faith in a long-term frontcourt relationship with the 24-year-old Bargnani. "They're fluid players who are both capable of playing the '4' and the '5' positions," Colangelo said. "It's a nice mix."

"His three-pointers are effortless the way he shoots it, and so you'd better be close to him," Triano said. "He helps Chris Bosh a lot because he drags a big guy away from the basket. They have to put a smaller quicker guy on Andrea, so '4s' will guard him, and that means Chris has a bigger guy and can use his quickness to get to the free-throw line. They complement each other very well."

"Every time he would set a screen, teams would switch and put a little guy on him, and he still had a difficult time finding his way down in the block, and he'd get frustrated and push the guy off trying to finish," Raptors coach Jay Triano said. "That was the part of his game that he wanted to improve on, and it has helped us."

"It was something completely new for me because, in Europe, I was just playing outside," Bargnani said. "I feel better with the right hand, of course, so I just do a couple of dribbles with the right hand and see what [the defender] does. I prefer to go for the hook to the middle, and if he blocks [the path], I try to shoot it. I always do one, two or three bounces to see the situation; I don't do something right away now."